Improvement in type-setting machines



NiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. FELT, 0F SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TYPE-SETTING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,955, dated June 23,1863.

.To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES W. FELT, of Salem, in the county ot" Essex and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented `a spacing andiustifying machine for operating on lines of type, and intended to be used in conjunction with a typesetting machine; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connec- 'Sheet 3, a cross vertical section taken in the plane of the lines Z Z, seen in Figs. 1 and 2,

vand exhibiting the machine in elevation beyoud ,the cutting-plane.

Other drawings (marked Details l 2 3, te.)

will be referred to hereinafter as occasion may require, and are details of parts of the maf chine which are. lettered, as above described.

Throughout this specification I use the terms -Spacing and justifying in their ordinary technical signification among printers, spacing77 signifying the operation of securing a nearly equal distance between the words, and justifyingj making the lines ot' type of .the same length. In the practice of my invention l. introduce, in setting up the type in lines, whether by hand or machinery', certain peculiar spaces between the words, but not at the ends of the lilies, which I term machinespaces77 These are inserted iu the place of'thevspaces ordinarily employed, and are used as a means for indicating to the mechanism where spaces of the common kind should be inserted to accomplish the purpose for which this invention is made. lheline of type, with its machinespaces, is fed Ainto or placed in a channel having its top open for insertion and extraction of spaces, its bottom removable, so that each line of type, when spaced and justified, can be placed upon a proper galley, land itssides adjustable, for the purpose of accommodating type of diierentsizes--as for instancebrevier, no11pariel,&c.; also having two stopsone at each end of the line of type-that near the end of the channel at which the type are introduced being movableonly so far' as to admit of the entrance of the type, after which it acts upon them as a fixed stop, and the other stop, at the opposite end of the line, being movable in the direction of the length of the line of typeagainst which it is constantly pressed, and `acting by the position given it by change in the length of the line of type to indicate, by means-of wed ges, levers, toggles,

or other suitable devices, the necessary operations to the spacing and justifying mechanism. A box containing spaces of the ordinary kind is located above-.the type-channel, so as to becapable ot'- being moved over the line of type, and of being checked at the maehinespaces, at which times the type on each side of the space which is acting as a check are iirmly clamped, the space being included with the type nearest the stationary stop, and clamped with them to atixed bar, while, the type on the side of the space nearest the movable stop are clamped to a movable bar, by the movement of which, and the ciamping aforesaid, a separation takes place in the line of type in which a space can be inserted by a plunger made to operate on one of the spacescontained in the box. The spaeebox, after the withdrawal of the plunger before referred to, is moved along and these operations repeated till there is no longer room for .the reception of the ordinary spaces. When theline is so filled, the machinespaces are extracted, and it' the line is iilled exactly or is justified, then for each machinespace extracted, a common space ot the same thickness is inserted. As the machinespaces are extracted, they are pushed out of the grasp of the pinchers, by a suitable mechanism for that purpose, into a box arranged to receive them.' To provide for justifying thel line to avery minute fraction of an inch, where it falls'short of being its proper length by less than the thickness lof the spaces used in filling the line, and which, for illustration, I shall assume to be hair-spaces of brevier, which areve two-hundredaud-seventieths of an inch thick, as are also the machinespaces. The space-box is provided with another set ot' spaces, slightly thicker, and which I shall assume to be live-em spaces, which are six twoh'undred-a-nd-seventieths of an inch thick. When in this condition of things there exist one or more two-hundred-and seventieths of `rin-,inch of the proper length of the line unlied, theindicating mechanism changes the position of the space-box so that the five-cm spaces are over thei` type-channel and subject to the action of the plunger, and as each machine-space is extracted a tive-e1n space is inserted in its stead, which increases thelength of the line one two-hundred-and-seventieth of an inch. This operation is repeated till the line is filled to less than the one two-hundredand-seventieth of an inch' of its exact proper length, when the indicating mechanism causes the position ot the space-box to be shifted so as to bring thei hair spaces into position to be inserted in the line wherever the machinespaces are drawn outan operation which does not change thelength of the line, the spaces extracted and the spaces inserted being equal in thickness and number. In the case assumed for illustration it is evident that but four tiveem spaces could be required for justification of a li ne, since if there were a space of ivetwohundred-and-seventieths ot' an inch to be jilled i-n the line it would be supplied with a hair: space. Spaces of dierent thicknesses than those named ma-y be used, and more sets than ltwo may also be employed. as it is evident that the principle illustrated may be made the subject of more extended combinations.

` The piece A is the main support ofthe machine, which is suitably sustained in position,

so that the whole of the machine, with exceptionof a few parts which require connection with fixed points,. is capable of being moved upon A as on a slide forthe purpose of bringing the type-channel of this machine abut with the f stick of the typelsetter. Gross-heads B surround A, and are capableof freely moving thereupon, while they carry the slide Gaon which the space-box Hand other parts of the machine are moved. A.rigid bar unites the cross heads B, to, which bar the slide D is fixed, on which the movable bottom of the type-channel is drawn u p and down. Other pieces, E, are iixed to the said cross-bar, and serve as guides to the ends of the said movable bottom, and also to support the upper sides, a., of said channel and other parts of the machine which move on A. The movable'bottom of the typechannel is represented in Detail 1, as a section taken in line Z' Z', Sheet 1, and in elevation beyond, and is a,T-shaped piece connected by clasps F'to slide D, the top G of said piece forming the rest for the plain ends of the type. The lower sides of the channel are the pieces b, and c, which are connected to G, b being a plain bar so arranged that an aperture exists Vbetween the parts, in and through which an instrument may be made to operate upon the ine of type to removeit from G to the galley. To effect this removal of the type, the bottom G and the parts immediately united therewith are drawn downward, taking with them the line of type by means of the hold which the 'piece c has on the type by its edge or lip tting in the nicks formed in the type-bodies,

-which hold may be assisted and the type steadied by facing c with any suitable yleldin g material, as shown at d. The piece cis so arranged that a vertical movement .may be lgiven to it when G is drawn down to -its lowest position, and provision is also'made to allow a slightlateral movement of c. Th'esctwo movements combined withdraw c from the nicks inthe type and below the typeholding surface ot' G, so that the whole line may be left free for removal upon the galley. The jaw c is made to act upon the line of type to hold it together, and to cause it to move with G by the action on the jaw of spring e. When G is in its highest position, the type-channel is formed by the upper sides, a, the lower sides b an'd c, and the bottom G. The top of the channel is open and so are both its ends, but at one endthat at which the type are introduced-,there is a catch-spring, It, which yields to admit the introduction of the type, and then acts to prevent any movement .of them toward the spot from which they enter. The machine-spaces which areset up in the lines o f type I prefer to make of steel and of the form shown at t in Detail 2. These rest with their shoulders o'n the upper edges of a, when the plain ends of the type rest on G.- Upon the slide C is located vthe piece I, the screw h passing through a slotted hole therein and holding it to G, while the springs i act against stops in C to keep it against other stops, .'v, in C. 'Io the end ot' a slide-bar in I, which is arranged lso as to operate as a clamp upon the movable A stop f when desired, a bar, j, is fixed so as to be movable with I. By movement of piece n the clamping and unclamping of the movable stop f with reference to I and the bar j is eiected. -The shaft k has fixed upon it two radins bars or rockers, land m, to theirst of which power is applied to move the latter, which compresses the spring g, surrounding the guidespindle of the indicator-stop f. The reactionot' this spring keeps the end of the rocker pressed constantly toward the indicatorstopf, and this against the line of type whenever the parts are left free to be moved by the elastic force of the spring. The forked end of m plays between two bent studs, o, which are inserted in I, and are so loca-ted and shaped that m will strike against them in the last part of its vibration, and will then move I againstthe resistance of its spring, t, and with it the movable bar j and the indicating-stop f, the latter having been clamped by movement of n to I and bar j previously to the contact of m with o. It is obvious that in setting up a line of type there will be some customary o1 practical limit to the difference between the length of the line as it is first set up and the length of the space it is in` .sa u

absolute length to which it is intended to have all the lines of any given form justitiedwill be a compression of the spring g to varying degrees. The piece L,Detail 3,rests upon and is connected to C in such amanner asto be free to move upon it against the action of spring` p, similarly to that described for piece I. ToL is connected a clamping mechanism, which operates, by movement of piece q, to clamp the movable barj to the type nearest theindicatorstop f and next adjacent to the machine space. against which the pawl p is acting as a stop, as will be further explained beyond. A stationary bar, r, is fixed to any convenient immovable part ot the machine or its framework, to which bar 'the machine-space which is at the time acting as a stop and the type nextadjaccnt to it on the side nearest the fixed stop E are clamped by the clamping mechanism illustrated in Detail 4 as connected to M, which rests upon C in a manner similar to L and I.) This clamping mechanism is made to operate by movement ot' piece s. Now, when m strikes against o it will be evident that the line of type must be separated at themachinespace, because of -the connection of the type next the machine-space on the side of the indicating-stop with the piece I by means of the movable bar j, and that the separation will take place even though the parts of the line adhere with considerable tenacityfor`the machinespace which is clamped is iirmly retained from following the movement of that part ot' the line which is clamped to the movable bar. The line is thus separated to aliord facility for the insertion of spaces between the words of which it is composed, thereby to accomplish its spacing and justiiication..

The mechanism ot' the clamps connected with L and M is best explained by reference to Details 3 and 4, as well as to the general drawings. The clamping mechanism con` nectcd with I is not detailed, but is merely so modiicd from that illustrated in Details 3 and e as to clamp the indicatingstopfto the piece l. The box H, which contains common spaces, and the box N, whichreceives machine-spaces, are connected to a carriage-frame, the principal parts of which are indicated by t. The box His arranged so as to slide across the frame t on ways a at right angles with the direction in which tmoves upon C. Theamount of this movement is such that the hair space part O or the tive-em space part l ot' the box will be directly over the type-channel.

There are no means illustrated in the drawings for imparting movement to the carriage. t to move it over the line of type. One of the means which I propose to employ for this pur:y pose is the use ot' a spring or weight to move thecarriage toward the stationary stop, checking it at each machine-space, for a purpose hereinafter explained, by means of the mechanism shown in Detail 7.

One of the uses which the machine-spaces serve, when set up in the line of type, is that of the teeth of a rack, against which the paw] p impinges to check thc onward movement of the carriage till the pawl is tripped by a positive movement, given at the proper time, and by any suitable mechanism to the lever q', the pawl being at all other times kept in position to come into contact with the machine-spaces t by the action of spring r. The carriage t is thrownback to its startingpoint toward theindicating-stop by the action of mechanism which is caused to operate by the indicating mechanism.

v While I have indicated the best form known tome for the machine-spaces 1/,1 would remark that these may be so much modified as to fall short ot' the boundaries of the type when they are in place in the line,` in which lcase the pawl would fall into the space left between two type, and would act directly on the type as a check. This would probably' indent the type, but the indentation could be prevented, in some measure,by detaching the pawl from the carriage and causing it to be moved to the check, and to be clamped in that position before the carriage brought up against it. The carriage t incloses L and M, which are thus made to move along the line ot type with the space-boxes and to perform their appropriate functions 0n the type in the line. The channels O and P ot' the spaceboxy H are to be tilled with spaces ot' t-he common kind, and dii'ering from each other slightly in thickness.

'lo continue the illustration embraced 'in this speciica-tiou, it must be understood that O is tilled with hair-spaces and P with tiveem spaces, which are to be pressed toward the end plate, n, ot' the box H by springs. (Not shown the drawings.) There is an aperture made in the bottom of each of the channels O and P next' the plate u, just large enough to admit ot a single space being passed through into the type-channel. The spaces are prevented from falling through these openings by being pinched or fsrced against plate u, or by other suitable means. A plunger, a, having asectional area equal to that ofa hair-space, is made to move up and down at the proper times, guided by the spindie uand by the plates ot the space-box. This plunger will push single spaces successively from either channel U or P which may be directly beneath it into the opening in the type-line left by its separation. Pinchers are connected withthe piece which vcarries o, and are shaped as shown in Detail 5, and move up and down with the plunger. The plunger may be made to opera-te to insert a space withaut any action of the pinchers on a machine space; or the insertion of a common'space and the extraction of a machinespace may take place during one double stroke of 'v and x'. The rounded or inclined ends of the pinchers open when they strike, in ther downward movement, against a machine-space, and in doing this the spring c', which acts to keep the pinchers together, is extended and causes them to spring into the notches in the ma` chine-space,by which they acquire a firm hold. It will be obvious that when it is not desired to have the pinchers act to extract machinespaces any mechanism which will prevent trom catching` t will prevent 'such action of the pinchers. This is found in the lever a', upon which are iixed inclined horns y, so that the studs b may strike the horns y during the movement of the pinchers and open them, so that they will not take hold ot' the machinespace; or the lever a may be so set that the horns thereon will be placed beyond a chance of contact with the studs, so that the pinchers will open and close` upon the machine spaces. lt will be observed that the adjacent surfaces of the plunger and pinchers are not in the same plane, because the separation of the type takes place before these instruments act. A couple of bars, d', are fitted in corresponding apertures in u, and are connected together and to a slide, s', which is made to move upon the space-box H in the directionof the length of its'channelsafter the pinchers have completed their upward stroke. Whenever the pinchers extract a machine-space, this movement pushes it out of their grasp into the channel in nN from which they may be taken to be used-again in the type'setting machine. These bars d and thc slide s', with which they are connected, are fully illustrated in Detail 8, and are shown elsewhere in the drawings. A compound slide is made to reciprocate at right angles to the line of the movement of the indicating-stop f. This slide moves in suitable bearings or supports, Q, fixed to C, and consists, as is shown in the drawings, and more particularly in Detail 6, ol' aplain bar, c', to which barj7 is connected so that it will move with bar e', unless some obstacle is interposed, e communicating its movement to f by the contact caused by the pressure of the spring o. The parts e and f of the compound slide are united by pins in one, passing through slotted holes in the other, in-such a manner that when e moves relatively to f 'the parallelism ot' the pieces shall not be disturbed. Upon the edgel of f', adjacent to the end of the indicating-stop f, an incline is formed, as represented at g', the length of which must be proportioned to the length of the reciprocation at c', and the inclination of which must be relative to the thickness of the spaces used in spacing and justifying, and is in the case illustrated four two-hundredandseventieths of an inch. At one end of this inclinef is cut away, as shown at h', sufficiently to admit freely the end otf. The opposite edge of j" is cut away, as shown at i', which cut should be the sum ot' the length of the incline g and the thickness of the pin l.. A piece, S, iis secured to Q, along which f' moves so closely that any impediment acting at right angles to its line of reciprocation, as part of the compound slide, will clamp f between S and the impediment, (which is the stop f,) so that no strain or binding will take place between f and e', and the latter will continue to move freely, while the former remains stationary.

I will now describe the means by which the space-box is moved over the type-channel so as to bring one or the other kind of spaces which it carries directly over the type channel. The piece m is a rocker which acts upon and between two pins fixed in arm j', which is made fast to the space-boit' H. The edge of this rocker, where it acts upon the pins in j', is of sufficient length to remain between said pins throughout the greatest movement which H has to make in order to pass over the longest line ot' type which the machine is adapted to operate upon. This rocker is made fast to the rock-shaft nf, which is 'mounted in suitable bearin gs, w', and has xcd to it an arm, k', to which is hinged the rod l', with a pin, l, projecting therefrom at its upper end. The rod l has a movement imparted to it, which, it' unchecked, would carry the pin at its end from a position below f to one above it. The parts are so arranged, as shown in the drawings, 'that when the pin in l is below f the hair-space channel O will be over the typechannel, and when above f the iiveemspace channel P will be over the type-channel. N ow, aperiodic impulseis given Z at the proper time, which, it unchecked, would in its upward movement shift P to the place occupied by O, and in its downward movement would bring Oback to the position it occupied at first. It will.be evident that l can thus receive a movement of a fixed maximum extent, and that it can be checked short of that extent by having the motor act upon a spring connected with l', which is sufticiently rigid to overcome the friction and inertia of the moving' parts without yielding, but which will yield sufficiently to permit the motor to move throughout its entire range whenever the pin in l meets with an obstacle.

Having described the construction of the mechanism, I will now proceed to describe its operation, premising that some normal length of line has been fixed upon, to which the type are to be spaced and justified, and that the length of the line set up does not fall short of of its intended normal length more than the length of the vibration of m, w-hichis employed in compressing the spring g before it strikes against o. As the length of the line is determined by the action of the stop f upon the line itself and the compound slide, it may be fixed by adjusting the distance apart of those portions of f which bear upon the type'and the part f of the slide. The stop f being so adjusted, the type set up in line with machine spaces inserted between each word are intro duced into the type-channel, and are held against the stationary stop by spring-pressure exerted through f. The space-boxes and carriage t are placed imposition, so that pawl p impinges against the first machine-space, and then m is made to move till it strikes o, at which time, or just before, the clamps s and goperate, and the balance ot the movement of m toward the compound slide is employed in the separation of the line of type at the machine-space which is operating as a check. Bar e' of the compound slide has previously moved and carriedf' with it throughout its movement, provided j' has not been brought by the length of the line of type so as to interfere with f', which it may do by being brought so near to j' that the incline g strikes f before e has completed its movement in one direction. lt the line should happen to be set up ot' the exact normal length, or within less than the one two-hundredandseventieth of an inch of it, then the position of j'wonld besuch that it would prevent movement ot'j", and that would leave f in such a position that it would check the upward impulse ofl', which impulse is given after the movement of e' ceases in a di rection away from Z. This leaves the hairspace channel over the type-channel, and the position off, when against gf, may be made to control th at of a', so as to leave the pinchers free to extract the machine-spaces. The plunger and pinchers are then moved down and bac-k again, inserting ahair-space and extracting a machine-space, which, as both are of the same thickness, does not altes` the length of the line. The slide s then receives movement to push the machine-space into N, and the downward movement which the plunger and pinchers receive may be imparted to lever q to trip the pawl p', which lets' the carriage t, and parts connected therewith, move to the next machine-space, when the clamps release their hold. Those which clamped the movable bar have a slight retractile movement toward the stationary stop. m vibrates back, andthe described operations are repeated till the machinespaces are all extracted, because the length of the line remains unchanged, and so, of course, does the indicating mechanism, and the conditions which produce the movements. When the carriage t has passed over the line, it operates, by its arrival at some fixed point, to throw into gear a mechanism which shall lower the bottom of the type-channel, release the type from the grasp of G, and feed out the line upon a proper galley, which is made to assume a proper position to receive it, after which the type-channel bottom assumes the position in which it is illustrated in the drawings, when another line of type may be introduced and carriaget returned to the first machine-space of the new line. To illustrate the variety ot' the action of my machine and its automatic adaptation to spacing and justifying, it may be assumed that this new line are not extracted, because the mechanism which depresses a has not been acted upon, the indicating-stop f not being yet in contact with f. The line may be thus gone over again and again, till, by the insertion of hairspaces, j' isin such a position that the incline g of piece f Vwill come into contact with f, when j" will be thereby-checked from moving with e', and the recess z" will be presented soV that the pin on l can pass through, which movement of Z will shift the space-box so that the tive em spaces will be lover the type-channel. When this movementof l takes place, it, or some other suitable indication, causes the carriage t, and parts connected therewith,

to be returned to the first machine-space.Y Then, said machine-space is extracted just' after a tive-em space has been inserted by its side, which increases the length ofthe line the one two-hundredand-seventieth of an inch.

If the line still lacks one two-hundredand-sevf en tieth of an inch or more of its normal length, these movements will be repeated, save that the carriage tis not during the operations on this line made to move again toward the com-l pound slide. This operation of inserting a tive-em space andrextractin g a vmachine-space is continued till the length of the line is so increased by it that f prevents wholly, or nearly so, any movement of f', which will be when a line lacks less than the one two-hundred-l -and-scventieth of an inch of its length, when the pin in L', being below j', is prevented from moving upward thereby, and the hair-space box being over the typeline, hair-spaces are inserted in the place ofthe remaining machine-spaces.

I claim- J ustifying lines of type by means of mechanism which operates wholly or partially in the manner substantially as described.

Executed by me at Boston, Massachusetts,

December 17, 1860. l

CEAS. W. FELT. In presence ot` J. B. CRosBY, GORDON MCKAY. 

